


No Girl is an Island

by Rozilla



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Jane Foster, F/M, For Science!, Girls in science, Happy International Women's Day, International Women's Day, Jane Foster Lectures, Lectures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6219475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rozilla/pseuds/Rozilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jane Foster delivers a lecture on the future of women and girls in STEM for International Women's Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Girl is an Island

**Author's Note:**

> Arrgh! Came up with this way too late! Never mind.

Happy International Women’s Day everyone!

[cheering]

Thank you for having me and I’m really honoured to give this talk and I’ll never  _ ever _ get tired of talking about how to get more girls into science, but I’d prefer if it were a non-issue… but it still is, so I hope I can give some interesting perspective on it. 

I expect some people will roll their eyes at what seems like ‘yet another’ drive to get more girls into STEM. It looks to some like they get all the help they need and surely don’t ‘yet another’ scholarship programme or whatever.

Well, yeah, they do. And I’m not just saying that because I’m on the board for the Maria Stark Foundation for Girls and Women.

[laughs]

And on the board for Science Grrl in the UK.

[laughs]

And Girls Who Code.

[laughs]

And Star Girls.

[laughs]

Plug plug plug!

[laughs]

But it does raise an interesting point- why do we always seem to need these programmes? Why do we have to keep making ways for helping girls get into STEM? Why does it feel like there a few spaces available and it’s like a mad dash to get at least just one girl in?

It really should be lots of girls at once, it should just be that at a young age a girl just says ‘Hey, I like math, I find it rewarding! I want to do it for a living!’ Then waltzing into a classroom and working hard and getting academically rewarded.

But it’s not the case for most women, it’s still a struggle, even after you get the place, you’re left with a  _ whole _ new uphill battle, one that’s never really addressed, or maybe never really addressed  _ enough _ .

See, for years, I never saw a problem because I lived in my safe liberal hippy Jewish bubble with my professor parents and their professor friends. I didn’t have any friends my own age apart from one other boy who was the son of my parent’s friends and I barely saw him. I was home schooled and given the chance to study whatever the hell I wanted, so I got to build a ton of Robotix kits and Lego and used my Dad’s ZX Spectrum and went star gazing. No one told me I wasn’t supposed to do that, it was seen as completely normal, so I never felt isolated or scared or like I had to justify my place. That was until I started High School, after my Dad died and I was stuck. I loved science and math but my earnestness earned me scorn from the other kids and suspicion from the teachers. I stuck at it, but God it was hard, it was frightening, because, contrary to what you might think- being the centre of attention when I’m not talking about something I know about is  _ terrifying _ to me. Every day I was expected to answer for why I was still here and for years I  _ didn’t know why _ I was the only one there and it never occurred to me that, despite being raised by a placard waving feminist, the answer was pretty friggin’ obvious. 

 

Look, money towards scholarship programmes and education drives aimed at little girls are hugely important,  _ but _ they are a band aid… or more like a bandage. They’re effective, but still only a stop gap measure and you still need something more… long term. Like sutures. Let me give you a hypothetical-

 

Say you’re an eighteen year old girl, from a poor but encouraging background, who has loved chemistry and wants to study it at college, you apply to a scholarship programme and get in. You’re elated, you’re so proud, you’re family’s proud and you arrive ready to learn.

Then you are confronted by a classroom  _ full  _ of dudes. All the students, all the professors- all dudes. All white dudes usually.

[laughter]

Not a problem in an of itself, but that’s okay, you’re tough. You’re good at your work, you’re going to be okay. 

But then you make a mistake- just a simple one, one question in a pop quiz, maybe you slip up and give the wrong answer in class? You put your hand up, bright as a button, all confidence, but you then get it wrong. Ouch, embarrassing, but that’s no big deal right, no one’s perfect?

Except that every time you do give a wrong answer, there’s this… buzz in the room. The professor, who’s totally liberal and cool with girls doing science don’t get me wrong etcetera, gives you this  _ look _ . And the guys around you are giving you this  _ look _ . 

It’s a look that says ‘What are you even doing here? You don’t even get the answers right all the time.’

That’s… a ridiculous pressure to put on one person and gets to you. Happening once is uncomfortable, but what if it starts happening  _ every single class _ ? What if the subject you grew up with and loved suddenly feels like a trap that you keep falling into? You lose confidence, you lose that bright eyed enthusiasm and your drive and… you start to agree with the other men in your class; was I ever meant to be here? Did I just waste everyone’s time? Did I waste all that money? The cracks appear and spread quickly.

Now, the healthy answer would be- no, you’re allowed to make mistakes, just go to the professor or HR and ask for some help. You go to Professor McLiberal and say ‘Hey, I need a little help, would it be okay to get a study group going?’

‘Why?’ He asks ‘You struggling?’

‘Oh no!’ You assure him ‘I’m just keen to get it right and I want-’

‘If you’re struggling, you need to tell us.’

‘Well…’

‘Then, if you’re still struggling, you need to think about what your options are. Am I really suited to this class?’

More cracks appear.

But what if you want to have friends? Or date? You want to study, but you want to do both- why isn’t both an option for me? If I start dating, will they think I’m going to get married and have kids and leave my study? Then again, what if you don't want to date, but all the men around you expect you to be some kind of emotional support or a girlfriend? What if they misinterpret your friendly enthusiasm for their work for some kind of flirting? ‘I didn’t mean to lead him on, I just want to ask him for an answer? Why am I seen as the girlfriend?!’

And just like that- the cracks, becomes a chasm. 

But you can’t  _ quit _ , your whole family are counting on you! If you quit, the programme will have failed and you will be held up as an example of  _ why girls are not suited to STEM _ .

If one girl fails, all girls fail.

So, you study your ass off, you work yourself into a stupor, you suffer anxiety, panic attacks- on top of all the other classes you have to do. On top of paying for food and books and all the other stuff you need to exist day to day. 

And that’s  _ if  _ you have a supportive family. 

Then try factoring in colour, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation… all of these things single you out and burden you until you graduate.

And then… what? Well, it depends. Some make it out and go onto rewarding careers, but some don’t. Some end up just tired and in debt. Some do just flat out quit because it was either their health or their dreams and… well, health is keeping you alive. 

That could well have been me. I sometimes lie awake at night thinking about all the times I came  _ so _ close to quitting or maybe even have chosen a different profession. At one point I seriously considered medical school- it would’ve been okay. I would’ve been a Doctor either way, but I would’ve always… wondered. I love my job now- I am literally living the dream.

[laughter]

No seriously, am I dreaming? It feels like it most of the time. 

[laughter]

I was lucky, my story should be the norm… it isn’t. I was able to get support from my Mom and her friends in the faculty on top of a place at somewhere as supportive and accepting as Culver. 

[single whoop from the audience, laughter]

Culver U! Represent!

[laughter, cheering]

My point is, these girls who get their scholarships, who love science, who enjoy math, need to feel supported and nurtured and part of a group. No girl should be an island. I try to make sure that the programmes I’m involved with all have a means of providing emotional and social support on top of financial, so that they feel like they aren’t supposed to just suffer in silence. If they feel like their fellow students or professors are not being fair or sometimes out and out sexist, then they have a means of reporting this and, basically, feeling as though someone has their backs. They can make mistakes, they can get things wrong- that’s important. Science is all about making mistakes, that’s how we learn- we don’t say  _ all boys _ are bad at Math because one boy makes a mistake on an equation. That’s crazy, so why do we apply this to girls?

Spoiler alert- sexism.

[laughs]

We’re all guilty of it, because it’s so imbedded in our thinking- even the professors who had feminist moms and wives will think ‘Maybe she shouldn’t be here’ at least once, even by accident, because we see women in STEM so little, that the ones who made it must be super duper perfect right? They can’t  _ just _ be passionate, they have to be super genius robots! Why else would they just let a girl wonder in?

And this is so ingrained in our human society. Every where. And… it’s so hard to live under. We don’t want to be seen as singularly amazing- we want to be part of a group of amazing. We want to be seen as people who are really good with numbers and machines, who just so happen to be girls. It shouldn’t be seen as intrinsically linked to gender. I want to give you an example… um, but… I know I keep name dropping Asgard, but, to be fair, if you went to an alien civilisation, you’d talk about it all the time to.

[laughter, cheering]

I got to visit their research facility- the Hall of Science as they called it. Pictures are still available pretty much everywhere so you can look if you don’t believe me… It is usually occupied by at least half a dozen people reading old texts, lecturing others, studying the movements of the Yggdrasil projection.

The weird thing about these people? 

All women. Every. Single. One.

Young, old, tall, short, fat, thin and everything in between, from across the Realms. I saw a group of girls no older than about ten in our terms, sitting and practising some sort of projection powers with a female teacher. I saw a woman my age talking to another woman my age about how the crossing of Jotunheim under Vanaheim would affect the orbit of their sun. 

And no one commented on this. No one.

I asked Thor about it, how did you manage to get so many women into magic?

And he looked at me as if I’d asked how I persuaded so many women to take up… child care. Or home economics. Or cooking. 

It was just something women  _ did _ . 

Women in Asgardian society are  _ expected  _ to study magic- science, remember, Asgard is an embodiment of Clarke’s Third Law- and so they don’t feel the need to encourage women to join this field. Chances are that’s where they’re going anyway. That’s what’s  _ expected _ . 

All the staff in the Healing Rooms were women to. All of them. They wore blue, the ones in the Hall of Science wore green. There’s also a group of women who engineer designs for vehicles, armour, weapons, come up with items like healing stones, Soul Forges, scrying pools- all the items we would think of magic, but are, again- drugs, medical diagnostic equipment, long range scanning and monitoring. All women.

_ All women _ .

I felt completely at home, they still treated me a little oddly because of my… species I guess. Being the only mortal on Asgard is pretty overwhelming, but as soon as they found out what I did, they understood. They just explained what they did and recognised I understood them.

Oh and, yeah, did I mention they all wore dresses? Like, long flowing medieval gowns? With elaborate hair and simple jewellery and... short sleeves obviously. A lot of them are mothers and wives too. I even met plenty of grandmothers.  _ Grandmothers _ . In. SCIENCE. 

[laughter]

So, no wonder Thor wasn’t surprised at my profession. It was entirely expected as far as he was concerned. And it just goes to show- all you need is a shift in perspectives and our prejudices and ideas just seem… ridiculous. Yeah, we’re a different species to an extent, but we’re pretty similar. Asgard has influenced our world to a huge degree. Why do we have to accept that science is for boys when there’s a super advanced alien species that thinks the  _ exact  _ opposite?!

 

But… here’s the thing, as wonderfully refreshing as it was to go to Asgard and feel, for the first time in my life, entirely vindicated of my work, not  _ just  _ because it existed at all.

It’s still ties a profession to your gender. That’s not right.

See, if you’re a  _ man  _ on Asgard who wants to study magic, you’re generally ostracised or looked upon differently because… it’s women’s work. Ironic, since magic is supposed to stem from the All Father- but it’s seen as fundamentally female. I did see one or two men, but they were on their own and I’m not sure they were there in study capacity either. There are male mages, but they’re usually seen as academics who don’t have an important role in the advancement of Asgard’s magic.

A similar phenomenon happened in Viking society. Magic and math was seen as ‘witchcraft’ and ‘women’s work’, hence why the wives were given full control of the finances and communicating with ‘magic’, which is great if you’re a woman I guess but... This meant that, a fundamental tool that helps you understand the world around you, was taken from young boys and men because it was seen as ‘lesser’. Just like men aren’t allowed to cry or ask for help because this is seen as weakness and ‘being a big girl’, this is not equality or fairness. It’s sexism still- it still implies that if a woman does it, it cannot be that hard or that important, therefore you, a man, shouldn’t do it. This impacts women to- if you are struggling and get upset, this is seen as ‘Oh of course, typical women can’t handle her emotions’, rather than ‘Hey, I’m scared and need help, stop being a jerk.’

Similarly, being a warrior or a soldier is seen as ‘men’s work’, so if you’re a woman who wants to fight alongside the men, well… prepare for an uphill struggle. That’s not to say that  _ no _ women are allowed on the battlefield, there are options- and please, I know this sounds like I’m making it up, but for the love of god I’m being  _ dead serious _ \- like… the Valkyries. 

[gasps, mumblings]

Yup, they’re real. I’ve seen them. They are… pretty bad ass. 

[laughter]

They are an elite fighter group, a kind of black ops team I guess, who are sent out to fight small battles that don’t require a larger, more full scale attack. They become Valkyries at a young age, are trained, take an oath, leave their families and give up the right to… well, everything. Which is great if you never want to have a family… but asking that of such young children seems… uncomfortable to me. What if you change your mind? 

In a similar way to how young women in these STEM fields, they’re expected to never question, or doubt, or make mistakes. They have to chose- their lives or their passion. 

That’s not to say that some women don’t break the mould, become warriors on their own terms, they do! There’s always one, in fact, it’s usually  _ one _ , but it’s a grind and if you don’t have some support it can be hard. 

This is different to us, but in many ways, it’s pretty much the same and it has… potentially deadly consequences for the people involved.

I’m not saying it’s worse on Asgard for anyone, in many ways it’s still much better, but… we both have a lot to learn. We’re still changing and, hopefully, we’ll come to realise we’re better off helping and supporting each other no matter what we chose to do. 

All I’m saying is- no woman, no  _ person _ , is an island. 

It’s not enough to say ‘Here’s some money’ or ‘Here’s a single space in the class’- we need to disconnect from the idea that there can only be  _ one  _ women in a field at a time and that one woman must be some kind of singular example by which we judge all women. That’s not… right. 

 

So, what I want people to take away is this- women deserve to be people. People who struggle, who need help, who need support from their peers. They need a group, a network- we need to make fundamental changes in how we perceive science and math to make that happen. We need to see them as paths, for everyone, not burdens that you have to carry because you’re the one person who’s ‘gifted’. That’ll hold us back if not addressed soon. 

 

Celebrate the ones who broke through, but take a little time to prop the ones who just need help. Let’s get those girls off the islands.

 

Thank you

[cheering, clapping]


End file.
